A fault location technique for rural distribution feeders

The fault location scheme presented attempts to account for the multi-phase laterals, the unbalanced conditions, and the unsymmetrical nature of distribution feeders by continually updating voltage and current vectors at set locations within the system. The updated voltage and current vectors are the estimates of the 60 Hz phasor quantities obtained using a recursive optimal estimation algorithm. The distance to the fault is then estimated using a method based on the apparent impedance approach and the updated voltage and current vectors. Another consideration is the ability to determine the fault location on a lateral. A simulation of an actual rural distribution feeder using the electromagnetic transients program (EMTP) is used to illustrate the concepts of the approach and to show the accuracy and speed of this fault location technique, even on a temporary fault that lasts only for a few cycles.<>